Not because it removes ego or makes someone automatically humble, but because visualization intensifies emotion.
Why does picturing a scene make the feeling stronger?
When a person can vividly picture a scene, the body often reacts more strongly, which is why scary stories can feel physically frightening. The person is not only reading words, they are seeing a scene inside their mind. I learned I had aphantasia around four years ago.
Before that, I had no idea people could actually visualize a sheep in their mind.
What did the study on aphantasia find?
A study on aphantasia found something interesting: When people with aphantasia (around 4 percent of a population), read frightening stories, they did not show the same physical fear markers as people who could visualize, but when both groups looked at actual frightening images, their bodies reacted similarly.
That suggests the difference was not emotional coldness, but visualization. The image gives the emotion more fuel. And this may apply to ego fantasies too.
How does visualization feed ego fantasies?
When someone imagines being admired, praised, envied, powerful, famous, respected, or finally seen as right, the fantasy becomes stronger when they can see it in their mind.
The mind creates a movie, and the body starts reacting to the movie.
The ego does not only want honor, revenge, or success, it starts feeling the imagined honor, watching the imagined revenge, and picturing everyone finally realizing they were wrong.
Can aphantasia mean less shame around fantasies?
This may also help someone live with less shame around unhealthy sexual fantasies, because if they cannot visualize them, the fantasy happens as a monologue instead of becoming a vivid inner movie.
That does not mean the thought is good, healthy, or something to feed, but it can mean the body has less visual fuel to turn the thought into a stronger emotional experience.
Does aphantasia remove the ego?
So a person with aphantasia still has an ego, comparison, approval-seeking, imagined conversations, resentment, sexual thoughts that feel unhealthy, or status fantasies, but those fantasies feel less gripping in the body, and less emotionally powerful. Because what you visualize often intensifies what you feel.
What does the story of Joseph and his brothers teach us about the body and soul?
Questions people ask
What is aphantasia?
Aphantasia is when a person cannot picture images inside their mind. Someone who does not have aphantasia reads a scary story and is not only reading words, they are seeing a scene inside their mind, and the body reacts to that scene. A person with aphantasia gets the words without the picture.
How common is aphantasia?
A study on aphantasia puts it at around four percent of a population. I am one of them. I learned I had aphantasia around four years ago, and before that I had no idea people could actually visualize a sheep in their mind.
Does aphantasia mean a person feels less emotion?
No. A study found that people with aphantasia did not show the same physical fear markers when they read frightening stories, but when both groups looked at actual frightening images, their bodies reacted similarly. The difference was not emotional coldness. It was visualization, because the image gives the emotion more fuel.
Why do imagined conversations feel so real?
Because the mind creates a movie, and the body starts reacting to the movie. A person picturing praise, revenge, or everyone finally realizing they were wrong is not only wanting that outcome. They start feeling the imagined honor and watching the imagined revenge, and the image gives the emotion more fuel.
“What you visualize often intensifies what you feel. Fantasies become less gripping when they stay as monologue instead of vivid inner scenes.”
Explore the NextSelf Blog. Start with this post explaining the world of souls. And my Youtube.
The blog lists all the difference patterns to study, understanding patterns is how one can develop 'Daas' [felt knowing].
Update: As awe, trust, and love deepen, they can allow greater openness and intimacy with the Creator. That intimacy can include sadness when you notice how much more of His goodness can be revealed.